18 Jan Former spouse who waived her right to administer spouse’s estate in their Separation Agreement may still be appointed as Administrator on the basis of being the guardian of the decedent’s son
Matter of Estate of Piotrowski, 2012-604/C (December 10)
The court interpreted the waiver contained in the separation agreement as not applying to the ex wife’s right to administer the estate as the guardian of the decedent’s child. It will be interesting to see if divorce attorneys revised their separation agreements to include a waiver to serve as administrator on the basis of guardianship of a minor. It appears that the court had to weigh two competing interests- the best interests of the minor as opposed to the intent of the decedent. On one hand it is hard to believe that the decedent’s intention was that his ex-wife would get to be the administrator of his estate. On the other hand the ex-wife, who is the guardian and parent of the child, would seem to be the best person to administer the estate in the best interests of her son.
Surrogate Keith Cornell, Surrogate’s Court